Skip to main content
Industrial

V.Ships and BP accused of 'divide and conquer' tactics during redundancy consultations

13 August 2020

V.Ships and BP have been accused of 'divide and conquer tactics' during consultations on planned redundancies facing crew on four BP Offshore vessels, which are being sold as their bareboat charters end in 2020 and 2021.

The Union's strategic organiser Lee Moon said Nautilus had made it clear it would reject all non-genuine redundancies.

Mr Moon was critical of crewing agent VGG Singapore's (VGGS) approach to the consultation as contractual terms are not being honoured and it is hard to decipher who is making the decisions. The proposed new terms were not circulated prior to a meeting on 10 August with the Union; the employer had consistently used a 'vessel by vessel approach' instead of focussing on the entire fleet; and applications for voluntary redundancies which had previously been closed were reopened temporarily.

'Proceeding with a redundancy process on a vessel by vessel approach rather than encompassing the entire fleet could divided those that were safe and those that would be, at some point, at risk of redundancy,' Mr Moon said, while pointing out that the terms and conditions of employment state that crew would serve on any vessel.

While the new proposal appears to be in line with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), it does not offer any certainty to members that the same terms would be honoured further along in the redundancy process, Mr Moon said.

'It was highlighted that this appeared to be another divide and conquer tactic,' he said.

The vessels at the heart of the negotiations are Caledonian Vanguard, Caledonian Vision, Caledonian Vigilance and Caledonian Victory. They are all owned by BP, managed by V.Ships Offshore Ltd with VGGS, acting as the crewing agent.

Efforts are being made to see if members can continue working on the vessels under a new owner, using the UK's TUPE regulations (Transfer of Undertaking and Protection of Employment).

Caledonian Vanguard is currently alongside at Leith. Crewing levels will be maintained while the collective process was ongoing.

Caledonian Vision will be put in standby mode once the operational requirements had been completed.

Assurances were sought that the CBA terms would be offered to members working across the fleet but VGGS would not provide that assurance and re-affirmed that further discussion would take place following redundancies.

'Nautilus has made it clear that we resist redundancies and will not settle for anything less than the contractual rate of redundancy or severance pay,' Mr Moon said.

'We will protect our members positions using all necessary means, including legal action where needed.'


Tags

More articles

Industrial

Bulk carrier crew repatriated from Canada and refunded $92K in unpaid wages

Eight Filipino seafarers who had been kept onboard their vessel for as long as 15 months, have been successfully repatriated thanks to the efforts of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and Transport Canada.

  • News
  • 12 August 2020
Environment

Union urges Panama to step up after Mauritius oil spill

Nautilus International has called for the government of Panama to step up, after Mauritius declared a 'state of environmental emergency' on Friday 7 August, when a Panamanian-registered, Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground last month began spilling fuel into the Indian Ocean.

  • News
  • 11 August 2020
Members at work

Redundant oil and gas workers offered support to transition to new roles in energy sector

Nautilus members facing redundancy in the offshore sector are being offered extra support making the transition to new roles in the UK energy sector.

  • News
  • 10 August 2020
Industrial

BP Offshore crews likely to face redundancies as 'Caledonian' vessels are sold

Nautilus has started negotiations to reach the best possible deal for members on four BP Offshore vessels which are being sold as their bareboat charters end in 2020 and 2021.

  • News
  • 02 July 2020
Government

'Give MPs earache' with letter-writing campaign on pandemic pay and tax

Nautilus has been working hard to ensure members are treated fairly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Successes have included persuading the UK government to designate seafarers as key workers and ensuring the furlough scheme is applied to as many maritime professionals as possible. But there are still some stubborn outstanding issues, and action is now needed from large numbers of individual members to get the government's attention.

  • News
  • 01 July 2020

Become a Nautilus member today